Trombonist, Performer, Educator

Ben Cooper is a trombonist based in the Joplin area. He is a native of Kansas City, where he cut his teeth playing with various musical theater companies including Musical Theater for Young People and Musical Theater Heritage. In addition to his theater work, Ben has enjoyed a varied performing career with groups ranging from the Oklahoma Chamber Orchestra to composers’ collective and new jazz ensemble The People’s Liberation Big Band. He is an active performer in and around Oklahoma City on tenor, alto, and bass trombones as well as euphonium in various chamber and concert settings. His performing commitments have taken him on national and international tours, to venues including the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., Chicago’s Symphony Hall, and Vienna’s Konzerthaus.

Ben has been fortunate to work with several excellent composers, including the commissioning and premiere of Caleb Westby’s “ . . . a n d   o u t . . . ”, and Nikki Krumwiede’s Songs of the Sea, and Jacob Frost’s Hypnogogia. Currently, Ben maintains an active performance schedule in and around Joplin and Kansas City as a soloist and chamber musician.

In his career as an educator, Ben has worked with students at all levels, including several Kansas All-State musicians. Currently, he is an instructor of Low Brass and Music Theory at Missouri Southern State University in Joplin, Missouri, where he teaches trombone, euphonium, and tuba lessons as well as upper-level music theory courses. Ben takes particular interest in the education of beginners and has given several masterclasses on the technical and musical aspects of teaching young students to both trombonists and music educators.

Ben is a doctoral student at the University of Oklahoma and a student of Dr. Irvin Wagner. He holds degrees from the University of Kansas and Luther College where he studied with Michael Smith, Benjamin Yates, Michael Davidson, and Scott Watson.